arXiv subjects

Christophe Pichon

Publications and source records attributed to Christophe Pichon.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Early-type galaxy spin evolution in the Horizon-AGN simulation

Using the Horizon-AGN simulation data, we study the relative role of mergers and environmental effects in shaping the spin of early-type galaxies (ETGs) after $z \simeq 1$. We follow the spin evolution of 10,037 color-selected ETGs more massive than 10$^{10} \rm \, M_{\odot}$ that are divided into four groups: cluster centrals (3%), cluster satellites (33%), group centrals (5%), and field ETGs (59%). We find a strong mass dependence of the slow rotator fraction, $f_{\rm SR}$, and the mean spin of massive ETGs. Although we do not find a clear environmental dependence of $f_{\rm SR}$, a weak trend is seen in the mean value of spin parameter driven by the satellite ETGs as they gradually lose their spin as their environment becomes denser. Galaxy mergers appear to be the main cause of total spin changes in 94% of central ETGs of halos with $M_{vir} > 10^{12.5}\rm M_{\odot}$, but only 22% of satellite and field ETGs. We find that non-merger induced tidal perturbations better correlate with the galaxy spin-down in satellite ETGs than mergers. Given that the majority of ETGs are not central in dense environments, we conclude that non-merger tidal perturbation effects played a key role in the spin evolution of ETGs observed in the local ($z < 1$) universe.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

Caught in the rhythm II: Competitive alignments of satellites with their inner halo and central galaxy

The anisotropic distribution of satellites around the central galaxy of their host halo is well-documented. However the relative impact of baryons and dark matter in shaping this distribution is still debated. Using the simulation Horizon-AGN, the angular distribution of satellite galaxies with respect to their central counterpart and halo is quantified. Below one Rvir, satellites cluster more strongly in the plane of the central, rather than merely tracing the shape of their host halo. This is due to the increased isotropy of inner haloes acquired through their inside-out assembly in vorticity-rich flows along the cosmic web. While the effect of centrals decreases with distance, halos' triaxiality increases, impacting more and more the satellite's distribution. Effects become comparable just outside one virial radius. Above this scale, the filamentary infall also impacts the satellites distribution, dominating above two virial radii. The central's morphology plays a governing role: the alignment w.r.t. the central plane is four times stronger in haloes hosting stellar discs than in spheroids. But the impact of the galactic plane decreases for lower satellite-to-central mass ratios, suggesting this might not hold for dwarf satellites of the Local group. The orientation of the Milky-Way's satellites traces their cosmic filament, their level of coplanarity is consistent with systems of similar mass and cosmic location in Horizon-AGN. However, the strong impact of galactic planes in massive groups and clusters bounds the likelihood of finding a relaxed region where satellites can be used to infer halo shape. The minor-to-major axis ratios for haloes with log(M0/Msun)>13.5 is underestimated by 10%. This error soars quickly to 30-40% for individual halo measurements.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

Functional integral approach to the kinetic theory of inhomogeneous systems

We present a derivation of the kinetic equation describing the secular evolution of spatially inhomogeneous systems with long-range interactions, the so-called inhomogeneous Landau equation, by relying on a functional integral formalism. We start from the BBGKY hierarchy derived from the Liouville equation. At the order ${1/N}$, where $N$ is the number of particles, the evolution of the system is characterised by its 1-body distribution function and its 2-body correlation function. Introducing associated auxiliary fields, the evolution of these quantities may be rewritten as a traditional functional integral. By functionally integrating over the 2-body autocorrelation, one obtains a new constraint connecting the 1-body DF and the auxiliary fields. When inverted, this constraint allows us to obtain the closed non-linear kinetic equation satisfied by the 1-body distribution function. This derivation provides an alternative to previous methods, either based on the direct resolution of the truncated BBGKY hierarchy or on the Klimontovich equation. It may turn out to be fruitful to derive more accurate kinetic equations, e.g., accounting for collective effects, or higher order correlation terms.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

Functional integral derivation of the kinetic equation of two-dimensional point vortices

We present a brief derivation of the kinetic equation describing the secular evolution of point vortices in two-dimensional hydrodynamics, by relying on a functional integral formalism. We start from Liouville's equation which describes the exact dynamics of a two-dimensional system of point vortices. At the order ${1/N}$, the evolution of the system is characterised by the first two equations of the BBGKY hierarchy involving the system's 1-body distribution function and its 1-body correlation function. Thanks to the introduction of auxiliary fields, these two evolution constraints may be rewritten as a functional integral. When functionally integrated over the 2-body correlation function, this rewriting leads to a new constraint coupling the 1-body distribution function and the two auxiliary fields. Once inverted, this constraint provides, through a new route, the closed non-linear kinetic equation satisfied by the 1-body distribution function. Such a method sheds new lights on the origin of these kinetic equations complementing the traditional derivation methods.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Cylinders out of a top hat: counts-in-cells for projected densities

Large deviation statistics is implemented to predict the statistics of cosmic densities in cylinders applicable to photometric surveys. It yields few percent accurate analytical predictions for the one-point probability distribution function (PDF) of densities in concentric or compensated cylinders; and also captures the density-dependence of their angular clustering (cylinder bias). All predictions are found to be in excellent agreement with the cosmological simulation Horizon Run 4 in the quasi-linear regime where standard perturbation theory normally breaks down. These results are combined with a simple local bias model that relates dark matter and tracer densities in cylinders and validated on simulated halo catalogues. This formalism can be used to probe cosmology with existing and upcoming photometric surveys like DES, Euclid or WFIRST containing billions of galaxies.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Galaxy-halo alignments in the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamical simulation

Intrinsic alignments of galaxies are a significant astrophysical systematic affecting cosmological constraints from weak gravitational lensing. Obtaining numerical predictions from hydrodynamical simulations of expected survey volumes is expensive, and a cheaper alternative relies on populating large dark matter-only simulations with accurate models of alignments calibrated on smaller hydrodynamical runs. This requires connecting the shapes and orientations of galaxies to those of dark matter haloes and to the large-scale structure. In this paper, we characterise galaxy-halo alignments in the Horizon-AGN cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. We compare the shapes and orientations of galaxies in the redshift range $0<z<3$ to those of their embedding dark matter haloes, and to the matching haloes of a twin dark-matter only run with identical initial conditions. We find that galaxy ellipticities in general cannot be predicted directly from halo ellipticities. The mean misalignment angle between the minor axis of a galaxy and its embedding halo is a function of halo mass, with residuals arising from the dependence of alignment on galaxy type, but not on environment. Haloes are much more strongly aligned among themselves than galaxies, and they decrease their alignment towards low redshift. Galaxy alignments compete with this effect, as galaxies tend to increase their alignment with haloes towards low redshift. We discuss the implications of these results for current halo models of intrinsic alignments and suggest several avenues for improvement.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Secular diffusion in discrete self-gravitating tepid discs III. Resonant thickening in the tightly wound limit

The secular thickening of a discrete self-gravitating galactic disc is investigated using the inhomogeneous multi-component Balescu-Lenard equation. The thick WKB limit for the diffusion and drift coefficients is found using the epicyclic approximation, while assuming that only radially tightly wound transient spirals are sustained by the disc. This yields a simple double quadrature for the drift and diffusion coefficients, providing a clear understanding of the positions of maximum vertical orbital diffusion within the disc induced by the effects of a finite number of particles. When applied to a tepid stable tapered disc, the Balescu-Lenard formalism predicts the formation of ridges of resonant orbits towards larger vertical actions, as found in direct numerical simulations, but over-estimates the timescale involved in their appearance. Swing amplication is likely needed to resolve this discrepancy, as demonstrated in the case of razor-thin discs. The joint evolution of a population of giant molecular clouds within the disc may accelerate the secular disc's thickening induced by finite${-N}$ effects, but the observed number of clouds in the Milky Way does not seem to be sufficient to explain its thick disc.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

Resonant thickening of self-gravitating discs: imposed or self-induced orbital diffusion in the tightly wound limit

The secular thickening of a self-gravitating stellar galactic disc is investigated using the dressed collisionless Fokker-Planck equation and the inhomogeneous multicomponent Balescu-Lenard equation. The thick WKB limits for the diffusion fluxes are found using the epicyclic approximation, while assuming that only radially tightly wound transient spirals are sustained by the disc. This yields simple quadratures for the drift and diffusion coefficients, providing a clear understanding of the positions of maximum vertical orbital diffusion within the disc, induced by fluctuations either external or due to the finite number of particles. These thick limits also offer a consistent derivation of a thick disc Toomre parameter, which is shown to be exponentially boosted by the ratio of the vertical to radial scale heights. Dressed potential fluctuations within the disc statistically induce a vertical bending of a subset of resonant orbits, triggering the corresponding increase in vertical velocity dispersion. When applied to a tepid stable tapered disc perturbed by shot noise, these two frameworks reproduce qualitatively the formation of ridges of resonant orbits towards larger vertical actions, as found in direct numerical simulations, but overestimates the time-scale involved in their appearance. Swing amplification is likely needed to resolve this discrepancy, as demonstrated in the case of razor-thin discs. Other sources of thickening are also investigated, such as fading sequences of slowing bars, or the joint evolution of a population of giant molecular clouds within the disc.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

Hunting high and low: Disentangling primordial and late-time non-Gaussianity with cosmic densities in spheres

Non-Gaussianities of dynamical origin are disentangled from primordial ones using the formalism of large deviation statistics with spherical collapse dynamics. This is achieved by relying on accurate analytical predictions for the one-point probability distribution function (PDF) and the two-point clustering of spherically-averaged cosmic densities (sphere bias). Sphere bias extends the idea of halo bias to intermediate density environments and voids as underdense regions. In the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity, sphere bias displays a strong scale dependence relevant for both high and low density regions, which is predicted analytically. The statistics of densities in spheres are built to model primordial non-Gaussianity via an initial skewness with a scale-dependence that depends on the bispectrum of the underlying model. The analytical formulas with the measured nonlinear dark matter variance as input are successfully tested against numerical simulations. For local non-Gaussianity with a range from $f_{\rm NL}=-100$ to $+100$ they are found to agree within 2\% or better for densities $ρ\in[0.5,3]$ in spheres of radius 15 Mpc$/h$ down to $z=0.35$. The validity of the large deviation statistics formalism is thereby established for all observationally relevant local-type departures from perfectly Gaussian initial conditions. The corresponding estimators for the amplitude of the nonlinear variance $σ_8$ and primordial skewness $f_{\rm NL}$ are validated using a fiducial joint maximum likelihood experiment. The influence of observational effects and the prospects for a future detection of primordial non-Gaussianity from joint one- and two-point densities-in-spheres statistics are discussed.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Dressed diffusion and friction coefficients in inhomogeneous multicomponent self-gravitating systems

General self-consistent expressions for the coefficients of diffusion and dynamical friction in a stable, bound, multicomponent self-gravitating and inhomogeneous system are derived. They account for the detailed dynamics of the colliding particles and their self-consistent dressing by collective gravitational interactions. The associated Fokker-Planck equation is shown to be fully consistent with the corresponding inhomogeneous Balescu-Lenard equation and, in the weak self-gravitating limit, to the inhomogeneous Landau equation. Hence it provides an alternative derivation to both and demonstrates their equivalence. The corresponding stochastic Langevin equations are presented: they can be a practical alternative to numerically solving the inhomogeneous Fokker-Planck and Balescu-Lenard equations. The present formalism allows for a self-consistent description of the secular evolution of different populations covering a spectrum of masses, with a proper accounting of the induced secular mass segregation, which should be of interest to various astrophysical contexts, from galactic centers to protostellar discs.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

On the projected mass distribution around galaxy clusters : a Lagrangian theory of harmonic power spectra

Gravitational lensing allows to quantify the angular distribution of the convergence field around clusters of galaxies to constrain their connectivity to the cosmic web. We describe in this paper the corresponding theory in Lagrangian space where analytical results can be obtained by identifying clusters to peaks in the initial field. We derive the three-point Gaussian statistics of a two-dimensional field and its first and second derivatives. The formalism allows us to study the statistics of the field in a shell around a central peak, in particular its multipolar decomposition. The peak condition is shown to significantly remove power from the dipolar contribution and to modify the monopole and quadrupole. As expected, higher order multipoles are not significantly modified by the constraint. Analytical predictions are successfully checked against measurements in Gaussian random fields. The effect of substructures and radial weighting is shown to be small and does not change the qualitative picture. The non-linear evolution is shown to induce a non-linear bias of all multipoles proportional to the cluster mass.We predict the Gaussian and weakly non-Gaussian statistics of multipolar moments of a two-dimensional field around a peak as a proxy for the azimuthal distribution of the convergence field around a cluster of galaxies. A quantitative estimate of this multipolar decomposition of the convergence field around clusters in numerical simulations of structure formation and in observations will be presented in two forthcoming papers.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

A question of separation: disentangling tracer bias and gravitational nonlinearity with counts-in-cells statistics

Starting from a very accurate model for density-in-cells statistics of dark matter based on large deviation theory, a bias model for the tracer density in spheres is formulated. It adopts a mean bias relation based on a quadratic bias model to relate the log-densities of dark matter to those of mass-weighted dark haloes in real and redshift space. The validity of the parametrised bias model is established using a parametrisation-independent extraction of the bias function. This average bias model is then combined with the dark matter PDF, neglecting any scatter around it: it nevertheless yields an excellent model for densities-in-cells statistics of mass tracers that is parametrised in terms of the underlying dark matter variance and three bias parameters. The procedure is validated on measurements of both the one and two point statistics of subhalo densities in the state-of-the-art Horizon Run 4 simulation showing excellent agreement for measured dark matter variance and bias parameters. Finally, it is demonstrated that this formalism allows for a joint estimation of the nonlinear dark matter variance and the bias parameters using solely the statistics of subhaloes. Having verified that galaxy counts in hydrodynamical simulations sampled on a scale of 10 Mpc/h closely resemble those of subhaloes, this work provides important steps towards making theoretical predictions for density-in-cells statistics applicable to upcoming galaxy surveys like Euclid or WFIRST.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

New fitting formula for cosmic non-linear density distribution

We have measured the probability distribution function (PDF) of cosmic matter density field from a suite of N-body simulations. We propose the generalized normal distribution of version 2 (Nv2) as an alternative fitting formula to the well-known log-normal distribution. We find that Nv2 provides significantly better fit than the log-normal distribution for all smoothing radii (2, 5, 10, 25 [Mpc/h]) that we studied. The improvement is substantial in the underdense regions. The development of non- Gaissianities in the cosmic matter density field is captured by continuous evolution of the skewness and shifts parameters of the Nv2 distribution. We present the redshift evolution of these parameters for aforementioned smoothing radii and various background cosmology models. All the PDFs measured from large and high-resolution N-body simulations that we use in this study can be obtained from a Web site at https://astro.kias.re.kr/jhshin.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Two is better than one: joint statistics of density and velocity in concentric spheres as a cosmological probe

The analytical formalism to obtain the probability distribution functions (PDFs) of spherically-averaged cosmic densities and velocity divergences in the mildly non-linear regime is presented. A large-deviation principle is applied to those cosmic fields assuming their most likely dynamics in spheres is set by the spherical collapse model. We validate our analytical results using state-of-the-art dark matter simulations with a phase-space resolved velocity field finding a 2% percent level agreement for a wide range of velocity divergences and densities in the mildly nonlinear regime (~10Mpc/h at redshift zero), usually inaccessible to perturbation theory. From the joint PDF of densities and velocity divergences measured in two concentric spheres, we extract with the same accuracy velocity profiles and conditional velocity PDF subject to a given over/under-density which are of interest to understand the non-linear evolution of velocity flows. Both PDFs are used to build a simple but accurate maximum likelihood estimators for the redshift evolution of the variance of both the density and velocity divergence fields, which have smaller relative errors than their sample variances when non-linearities appear. Given the dependence of the velocity divergence on the growth rate, there is a significant gain in using the full knowledge of both PDFs to derive constraints on the equation of state of dark energy. Thanks to the insensitivity of the velocity divergence to bias, its PDF can be used to obtain unbiased constraints on the growth of structures ($σ_8$,f) or it can be combined with the galaxy density PDF to extract bias parameters.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

The secular evolution of discrete quasi-Keplerian systems. II. Application to a multi-mass axisymmetric disc around a supermassive black hole

The drift and diffusion coefficients of the inhomogeneous multi-mass degenerate Landau equation are computed to describe the self-induced resonant relaxation of a discrete self-gravitating quasi-Keplerian razor-thin axisymmetric disc orbiting a massive black hole while relying on Gauss' method. For a disc-like configuration in our Galactic centre, secular diffusion induces an adiabatic distortion of orbits. When considering a disc composed of multiple masses similarly distributed, the population of lighter stars will gain eccentricity, driving it closer to the central black hole provided the distribution function increases with angular momentum. The quenching of the diffusion of a test star in the vicinity of the black hole due to the divergence of the relativistic precessions (the "Schwarzschild barrier") is correctly recovered by the kinetic equation. The dual stochastic Langevin formulation yields consistent results and provides a versatile framework in which to incorporate other stochastic processes.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

COSMOS2015 photometric redshifts probe the impact of filaments on galaxy properties

The variations of galaxy stellar masses and colour-types with the distance to projected cosmic filaments are quantified using the precise photometric redshifts of the COSMOS2015 catalogue extracted from COSMOS field (2 deg$^{2}$). Realistic mock catalogues are also extracted from the lightcone of the cosmological hydrodynamical simulation Horizon-AGN. They show that the photometric redshift accuracy of the observed catalogue ($σ_z<0.015$ at $M_*>10^{10}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ and $z<0.9$) is sufficient to provide 2D filaments that closely match their projected 3D counterparts. Transverse stellar mass gradients are measured in projected slices of thickness 75 Mpc between $0.5< z <0.9$, showing that the most massive galaxies are statistically closer to their neighbouring filament. At fixed stellar mass, passive galaxies are also found closer to their filament while active star-forming galaxies statistically lie further away. The contributions of nodes and local density are removed from these gradients to highlight the specific role played by the geometry of the filaments. We find that the measured signal does persist after this removal, clearly demonstrating that proximity to a filament is not equivalent to proximity to an over-density. These findings are in agreement with gradients measured both in 2D or 3D in the Horizon-AGN simulation and those observed in the spectroscopic VIPERS survey (which rely on the identification of 3D filaments). They are consistent with a picture in which the influence of the geometry of the large-scale environment drives anisotropic tides which impact the assembly history of galaxies, and hence their observed properties.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

The secular evolution of discrete quasi-Keplerian systems. I. Kinetic theory of stellar clusters near black holes

We derive the kinetic equation that describes the secular evolution of a large set of particles orbiting a dominant massive object, such as stars bound to a supermassive black hole or a proto-planetary debris disc encircling a star. Because the particles move in a quasi-Keplerian potential, their orbits can be approximated by ellipses whose orientations remain fixed over many dynamical times. The kinetic equation is obtained by simply averaging the BBGKY equations over the fast angle that describes motion along these ellipses. This so-called Balescu-Lenard equation describes self-consistently the long-term evolution of the distribution of quasi-Keplerian orbits around the central object: it models the diffusion and drift of their actions, induced through their mutual resonant interaction. Hence, it is the master equation that describes the secular effects of resonant relaxation. We show how it captures the phenonema of mass segregation and of the relativistic Schwarzschild barrier recently discovered in $N$-body simulations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

The Horizon-AGN simulation: morphological diversity of galaxies promoted by AGN feedback

The interplay between cosmic gas accretion on to galaxies and galaxy mergers drives the observed morphological diversity of galaxies. By comparing the state-of-the-art hydrodynamical cosmological simulations Horizon-AGN and Horizon-noAGN, we unambiguously identify the critical role of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in setting up the correct galaxy morphology for the massive end of the population. With AGN feedback, typical kinematic and morpho-metric properties of galaxy populations as well as the galaxy-halo mass relation are in much better agreement with observations. Only AGN feedback allows massive galaxies at the centre of groups and clusters to become ellipticals, while without AGN feedback those galaxies reform discs. It is the merger-enhanced AGN activity that is able to freeze the morphological type of the post-merger remnant by durably quenching its quiescent star formation. Hence morphology is shown to be driven not only by mass but also by the nature of cosmic accretion: at constant galaxy mass, ellipticals are galaxies that are mainly assembled through mergers, while discs are preferentially built from the in situ star formation fed by smooth cosmic gas infall.

astro-ph.GA↗